Dismissing rumours of a hike in examination fee to the tune of 300%, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration on Friday said it was “aghast at the widespread misinformation that is being circulated.”

“There is no hike in the application fee and it remains the same as last year’s fee,” the varsity said in a statement, adding that entrance exams were being conducted in 127 centres, up from 70 centres last year. This is the first time that JNU is conducting online entrance tests in the multiple choice questions (MCQ) format.

On Thursday, the JNU students’ union (JNUSU) had alleged that a “leaked” prospectus of the varsity had mentioned that the administration had “unilaterally increased the prospectus fee by 300%, closed down BA lateral entry programme in School of Languages, decimation of deprivation points in M.Phil-PhD and delinked the M.Phil-PhD programme, which was an integrated programme.”

Countering the allegations, the university on Friday said, “decisions on such reforms were the result of serious deliberations and their adoption in statutory bodies, such as the academic council and the executive council in the university.”

JNUSU had, on Thursday, said these decisions were taken by “illegally keeping JNUSU away” from meetings of the standing committee, the academic council and other statutorily mandatory meetings.

The administration, however, said that while the decision to stop lateral entry “was based on making all admissions in JNU uniform,” the delinking of M.Phil/PhD programmes would help students who could “enrol for PhD programme directly after MA or MSc and can submit their theses in four years.”

“By dubbing the JNU entrance examination, based on 2016 UGC regulations, as illegal and spreading half-truths about the library budget, these miscreants appear hell bent on damaging the reputation of the university,” the varsity’s statement added.

On Friday, JNUSU congratulated the student community for “their successful resistance against proposed 300% fee hike.” “It is our unanimous struggle that has defeated JNU administration’s conspiracy of fee hike,” it said.

First Published: Mar 16, 2019 08:55 IST